Art Afterschool Series

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In this four-week Art Afterschool series, young artists will explore personal journeys through block printing, repetition, and variation. Participants design and carve a single print block inspired by familiar paths and places, then experiment with color, layering, and placement to create a series of small-format prints. 

Inspired by contemporary artworks and installations throughout The New Children’s Museum, participants will discover how repetition and process can communicate ideas, movement, and experience. 

Why This Matter
Working with repetition helps young artists build confidence, strengthen planning skills, and understand how meaning can develop through process. Printmaking introduces foundational artistic concepts while supporting creative problem-solving and thoughtful observation. 

What To Expect 

• Designing and carving a custom print block 
• Exploring repetition through color, layering, and variation 
• Creating small-format prints as sets or series 
• Observing contemporary artworks and Museum installations 
• Sharing and exchanging prints with peers 

These programs are designed as small-group experiences with limited enrollment. Register now to secure your artist’s spot today! 

SECURE YOUR SPOT

In this four-week Art Afterschool series, young artists combine observation and imagination to create one-of-a-kind clay creatures. Participants explore the space between reality and fantasy by designing hybrid beings inspired by animals, plants, and imagined forms. Using foundational handbuilding techniques, artists shape sculptural forms while experimenting with texture, surface, and expressive details that suggest personality and movement. 

Inspired by contemporary artworks and installations throughout The New Children’s Museum, participants look closely at works that blend natural and imagined imagery, bringing those ideas back into the studio to inform their own creative process. 

Why This Matters
Working with clay supports fine motor development, spatial thinking, and problem-solving while encouraging imaginative risk-taking. Translating ideas into three-dimensional form helps young artists build confidence, persistence, and creative ownership. 

What To Expect 

• Learning foundational clay handbuilding techniques 
• Designing and sculpting a hybrid creature inspired by real and imagined sources 
• Exploring surface decoration techniques, including sgraffito 
• Observing contemporary artworks and Museum installations 
• Sharing ideas and reflecting on the creative process 

These programs are designed as small-group experiences with limited enrollment. Register now to secure your artist’s spot today! 

SECURE YOUR SPOT

In this four-week Art Afterschool series, young artists will explore personal journeys through block printing, repetition, and variation. Participants design and carve a single print block inspired by familiar paths and places, then experiment with color, layering, and placement to create a series of small-format prints. 

Inspired by contemporary artworks and installations throughout The New Children’s Museum, participants will discover how repetition and process can communicate ideas, movement, and experience.  

Why This Matters
Printmaking invites older youth to think critically about how images and language communicate through repetition. By planning and sequencing a series, participants strengthen design thinking, conceptual clarity, and awareness of audience. 

What To Expect 

• Designing and carving a custom print block that integrates image and text 
• Creating multiple prints through intentional variation and layering 
• Planning and sequencing a set of prints to communicate a journey 
• Observing contemporary artworks and museum installations 
• Sharing and exchanging prints with peers 

These programs are designed as small-group experiences with limited enrollment. Register now to secure your artist’s spot today! 

SECURE YOUR SPOT

In this four-week Art Afterschool series, young artists combine observation and imagination to create one-of-a-kind clay creatures. Participants explore the space between reality and fantasy by designing hybrid beings inspired by animals, plants, and imagined forms. Using foundational handbuilding techniques, artists shape sculptural forms while experimenting with texture, surface, and expressive details that suggest personality and movement. 

Inspired by contemporary artworks and installations throughout The New Children’s Museum, participants look closely at works that blend natural and imagined imagery, bringing those ideas back into the studio to inform their own creative process. 

Why This Matters
Designing hybrid forms supports advanced spatial thinking and creative confidence. By refining ideas through observation and experimentation, older youth strengthen problem-solving skills and learn how sculpture can communicate complex ideas through form. 

What To Expect 

• Developing hybrid creature concepts through observation, sketching, and discussion 
• Building balanced, expressive clay forms using handbuilding techniques 
• Exploring texture, pattern, and surface to enhance meaning 
• Observing contemporary artworks and museum installations 
• Sharing ideas and reflecting on the creative process 

These programs are designed as small-group experiences with limited enrollment. Register now to secure your artist’s spot today! 

SECURE YOUR SPOT

In this four-week Art Afterschool series, young artists explore places and spaces through sculpture, assemblage, and sound. Inspired by contemporary artists who transform everyday and overlooked materials into imaginative architecture, including works by Wes Sam-Bruce and installations on view at The New Children’s Museum, participants design and build playful cityscapes, forts, towers, and hideouts. Using repurposed and found materials, artists turn ordinary objects into magical environments inspired by childhood sanctuaries and meaningful places. 

Artists move from drawing and storytelling into hands-on construction, learning how ideas take shape in three dimensions. Through experimentation and collaboration, participants explore what makes a place feel cozy, secret, or special while developing foundational building skills and creative problem-solving strategies in a supportive Museum studio. 

Why This Matters
Combining sculpture, sound, and creative re-use encourages older youth to think critically about how environments shape experience, how materials carry meaning, and how contemporary artists build layered narratives about place and memory. 

What To Expect 

• Building sculptural environments using recycled and found materials 
• Introduction to assemblage, 3D design, and basic construction techniques 
• Exploring sound through simple recording and listening activities 
• Observing contemporary artworks and Museum installations 
• Creating, sharing, and reflecting on a multimedia artwork inspired by place 

These programs are designed as small-group experiences with limited enrollment. Register now to secure your artist’s spot today! 

SECURE YOUR SPOT

In this four-week Art Afterschool clay program, participants design imaginative clay objects that blur the line between function and fantasy. Using handbuilding techniques, young artists create “nonsense tools” inspired by everyday objects, reimagined with unusual, playful, or unexpected purposes. Through sketching, experimentation, and sculpture, participants explore how form, structure, and surface can suggest imagined use. 

Inspired by contemporary artists and museum installations at The New Children’s Museum, participants examine how artists transform ordinary objects into creative, thought-provoking designs. 

Why This Matters
Inventing new forms encourages older youth to think creatively and critically about the objects that shape daily life. By questioning function and imagining new possibilities, participants strengthen problem-solving skills and conceptual thinking. 

What To Expect 

• Designing and building clay objects with unusual or imagined purposes 
• Learning clay handbuilding and basic structural techniques 
• Exploring the relationship between form, function, and imagination 
• Observing contemporary artworks and museum installations 
• Developing, sharing, and reflecting on ideas through discussion and critique 

These programs are designed as small-group experiences with limited enrollment. Register now to secure your artist’s spot today!

SECURE YOUR SPOT

In this four-week Art Afterschool series, young artists explore places and spaces through sculpture, assemblage, and sound. Inspired by contemporary artists who transform everyday and overlooked materials into imaginative architecture, including works by Wes Sam-Bruce and installations on view at The New Children’s Museum, participants design and build playful cityscapes, forts, towers, and hideouts. Using repurposed and found materials, artists turn ordinary objects into magical environments inspired by childhood sanctuaries and meaningful places. 

Artists move from drawing and storytelling into hands-on construction, learning how ideas take shape in three dimensions. Through experimentation and collaboration, participants explore what makes a place feel cozy, secret, or special while developing foundational building skills and creative problem-solving strategies in a supportive Museum studio. 

Why This Matters
Working with repurposed materials helps young artists build spatial awareness, resourcefulness, and confidence, while learning how contemporary artists use sculpture and sound to reimagine everyday spaces. 

What To Expect 

• Building sculptural environments using recycled and found materials 
• Introduction to assemblage, 3D design, and basic construction techniques 
• Exploring sound through simple recording and listening activities 
• Observing contemporary artworks and Museum installations 
• Sharing ideas and reflecting on creative choices 

These programs are designed as small-group experiences with limited enrollment. Register now to secure your artist’s spot today! 

SECURE YOUR SPOT

In this four-week Art Afterschool series, young artists explore the playful side of design by inventing “nonsense tools” — objects that look useful but serve unusual, silly, or unexpected purposes. Starting with familiar tools and everyday objects, participants twist, combine, and reinvent forms to create something entirely new. 

Using foundational clay handbuilding techniques, artists focus on building sturdy forms while experimenting with shape, texture, and detail to suggest imagined function. Inspired by contemporary artworks and installations throughout The New Children’s Museum that transform everyday objects in surprising ways, participants discover how creativity can reshape how we see and use the world around us. 

Why This Matters
Inventing nonsense tools encourages creative problem-solving and flexible thinking. Working with clay builds fine motor skills and confidence while helping young artists see objects as starting points for imagination. 

What To Expect 

• Imagining and sketching tools with unusual or humorous purposes 
• Learning foundational clay handbuilding techniques 
• Exploring shape, texture, and detail to suggest imagined use 
• Observing contemporary artworks and Museum installations 
• Sharing ideas and creations with peers 

These programs are designed as small-group experiences with limited enrollment. Register now to secure your artist’s spot today!